Switch malfunction knocks out power in western Orange, Pike counties

PORT JERVIS — About 16,000 Orange and Rockland customers in the Port Jervis and Matamoras, Pa. areas lost power for a couple hours Saturday afternoon, O&R said.

Company spokesman Mike Donovan said the power from the Cuddebackville substation was being redirected onto neighboring circuits to let O&R technicians do some work on it, when, around noon, a switch outside the substation malfunctioned and knocked out the power to customers supplied from the Cuddebackville, Rio, Port Jervis, Matamoras and Otisville substations, including the entire City of Port Jervis. Some customers in Sullivan County also lost power.

O&R workers reconfigured the system to redistribute the load and reroute power to turn the lights back on for affected customers. Everyone had their power back by 2:20 p.m., Donovan said.